1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical suction device equipped with a rigid case, a receptacle adapted to be at least partly surrounded by the rigid case in an airtight manner, and a patient-side tube for introducing waste liquid into the receptacle, and designed to create a negative pressure in both an interior space of the rigid case and an interior space of the receptacle so as to allow waste liquid to be sucked into the receptacle through the suction tube.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, waste liquid generated during surgery or therapy, such as blood or rinse saline, is dealt with through an operation of sucking and collecting waste liquid in a receptacle bag, and discarding the receptacle bag after the surgery or therapy. This type of operation is carried out using a liquid suction device as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-112344 (hereinafter referred to as “prior art document”).
This liquid suction device comprises a flexible receptacle bag, and a rigid case for housing the receptacle bag, and a member for, in the state after the receptacle bag is housed in the rigid case, preventing gas communication between a space located inside the rigid case and outside the receptacle bag (hereinafter referred to as “out-of-bag interior space of the rigid case”) and an interior space of the receptacle bag, and preventing gas communication between the out-of-bag interior space of the rigid case and an exterior space of the rigid case. A suction-side tube for discharging an air in the interior space of the receptacle bag and an air in the out-of-bag interior space of the rigid case individually (i.e., for creating a negative pressure in the respective spaces individually), and a patient-side tube for introducing waste liquid into the interior space of the receptacle bag, are fluidically connected to the receptacle bag of the liquid suction device in such a manner as to maintain the above gas-communication states. Further, a member for stopping the suction of waste liquid at a time when a desired volume of waste liquid is introduced into the receptacle bag (i.e., for stopping creating a negative pressure in the respective spaces) is interposed in the suction-side tube.
The liquid suction device disclosed in the prior art document is designed to create a negative pressure simultaneously in the interior space of the receptacle bag and the out-of-bag interior space of the rigid case so as to allow the respective spaces to have an approximately even pressure. This makes it possible to collect waste liquid in the receptacle bag through the patient-side tube while suppressing compression of the flexible receptacle bag. In an operation for disposal of the collected waste liquid, the suction-side tube is detached from the receptacle bag, and the receptacle bag is detached from the rigid case. Then, the receptacle bag and the patient-side tube will be collectively discarded.
However, in the liquid suction device, before the use, each of the suction-side tube and the patient-side tube has to be attached to the receptacle bag. Thus, the preparatory operation for the liquid suction device inevitably becomes complicated. This means an increase in time period required for the preparatory operation. In addition, the need for connecting the plural tubes becomes a factor causing an error in selecting a connection portion corresponding to each of the tubes or an improper connection.
Moreover, in an operation for disposal of the collected waste liquid, the suction-side tube has to be detached from the receptacle bag. Thus, the disposal operation also becomes complicated. This means an increase in time period required for disposing of the receptacle bag, and leads to an increase in the frequency of contact of a medical staff with the suction-side tube through which patient's blood or bodily fluid is likely to attach to the medical staff. This situation is undesirable from the aspect of prevention of secondary infections.
Further, many of conventional liquid suction devices are a type in which the receptacle bag can be detached from the rigid case only after detaching both the suction-side and patient-side tubes. In the use of this type of liquid suction device, a disposal operation becomes more complicated.
In view of the above problems, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a receptacle and a medical suction device equipped with the receptacle, capable of achieving enhanced efficiency of preparatory and disposal operations, and maximally preventing a secondary infection and an improper connection of tubes.